Erase
by The Flying Fish Ate It
Summary: Hermione hates the outcome of the war. So the determined Auror turned Potions Mistress brews a haphazard potion to send herself back to a time where she can prevent it all from happening.
1. Chapter 1

_A.N. Well Huuuulo and welcome to my story. Continue if you dare. Nah just kidding, I can't bite in cyberspace, though real life is a different matter... _

_**Summery:**__ Auror, turned Potions Mistress and professional brewer Hermione Granger frustrated and angry with the world throws caution to the winds and drinks a potion which she herself developed. This potion throws her back in time, though she has no control what so ever of her destination and it appears that fate has its slippery fingers in this mess as well. Imagine her surprise when she comes face to face with an eight year old version of her old potions master. _

_Hermione adopts Severus, and eventually manages to change the course of history. I have a pairing planned.... but I'm not telling. Mawahahaha._

_Rated for violence, blood and a few bad words to start off with, might have lemons later. Mentions child abuse._

_Just a few rules before you plunge on however. Flamers will be used to cook my dinner on.... I have disabled anonymous revues so flame me at the peril of my retaliation. Constructive criticism however is much appreciated as are kind words from readers. _

_Disclaimer: Don't own it. Any ideas you don't recognise belong to me. Feel free to borrow, but please ask first. _

&&&&&&&

Chapter 1- Devastation

Hermione looked into shattered green eyes as Harry stared at her seeking some form of comfort from her. His eyes displaying a desperate hope that she would smile reassuringly, wave her wand and their best friend lying on the ground would grown roll over and say; 'this floor's bloody cold!' Hermione however was reflecting exactly the same expression of desperation in her own deep brown eyes.

Her moment of inattention however cost her, a spell slammed into her side and she screamed as it tore into her flesh. Her vision tunnelled and she felt herself hit the ground. Before she could lose consciousness completely she saw Harry raise his face to the heavens of iron grey sky and scream. There was an explosion followed by white light and Hermione knew no more.

&&&&&&&

Hermione's head hurt. And it didn't just throb, it banged, like a load of Cornish pixies were at the inside of her skull with little mallets whacking her cranium hard.

Hermione groaned. Then she gasped as she remembered Harry's scream to the heavens.

"Ah Miss Granger you're awake." A healer in white robes hurried over.

"Harry, what happened to Harry?" she croaked.

"I'm afraid I can't discuss that with you at the moment Miss Granger." The healer replied in a slightly superior manner, clearly enjoying being in charge of someone with a reputation like Hermione's. She however was having none of that and her hand snaked out and grabbed the collar of his robes.

"What the fuck happened to Harry?"

The man stuttered for a second before he decided it would be a good idea to give in, as Hermione's hands still had a vicelike grip on his collar which seemed to be gradually tightening in a threatening manner. Though the healer did try to gather his dignity before he next spoke.

"I am afraid there was not much left. Mr Potter seemed to explode. All the death eaters within a twenty metre radius were reduced to pulp, along with 'He who must not be named' of course. Unfortunately there was not much left of everyone else who had been fighting against them. There were only five survivors."

"Who." Hermione demanded with a desperate gleam in her eye.

A list of five names was reeled off. She knew none of them. She felt numb.

"How long have I been in a coma?" she asked while releasing the unfortunate healer's collar. He smoothed wrinkles out of his robe, regaining his sense of superiority as he did so.

"Six weeks Miss Granger." He informed her in a decidedly arrogant tone.

"Bloody hell." Hermione grumbled. She pushed the covers back and swung her legs out. The healer spluttered indignantly.

"Oh shut up." She growled at him. She needed to get out of here. Her legs automatically carried her out of the ward the healer squawking like an angry chicken behind her. He trotted along after her, but everything he said seemed to translate into an irritating gabble to her ears which may as well have been pieces of cloth for all the use they were being to her just now.

She barged the queue to the fireplace and left in a rush of green flame. Generating more ruffled feathers and chagrined clucks from the surrounding wizards and witches who had been unceremoniously shoved out of the way.

&&&&&&&

"Too big a price, too big a fucking price." Hermione snarled quietly to herself. She was not really a nice person most of the time any more, the war had changed her she admitted it. The problem was that she cared too much. As a teenager she had felt that if she tried hard enough she would be able to right all the wrongs in the world. Her best had not been good enough. At the moment she was stalking someone who had the ingredient she required to finish her ground breaking work.

She already knew a lot about time, after all you cannot leave an inquisitive young person with something as mysterious as a time turner, and then not expect them to take it apart just to see how it worked. It had been a full year since that fateful last battle, and the last remaining heroin of the war was wanted everywhere, but she ignored the general wizarding populace and immersed herself in her studies.

The person she was stalking prowled into her range. Quick as a flash she shot out of her hiding place in a dirty alleyway and tackled the unsuspecting vampire. Together they tumbled to the ground, and Hermione already had a small silver knife pressed to the vampire's jugular, as soon as it felt the prick of silver it froze. Hermione was straddling the un-dead creature and had his arms pinned to the floor with her knees. Recognising defeat the vampire glared at her with eyes a savage scarlet.

Without hesitating Hermione used her free hand to plunge a needle into the vampire's neck. She found a vein quickly and withdrew a large quantity of blood. The vampire hissed and wriggled when he felt what she was doing.

"Stay still you prick, and you walk away unharmed." She growled at him digging the silver into his throat slightly. The vampire yelped and stilled.

When she had enough of his blood she dissapperated without a sound leaving a shaken vampire in her wake.

Hermione arrived at her parent's old house. She apparated straight to the cellar where she kept all her potions equipment and it was a mess, but she didn't care, it served her purpose and she would not be staying here for very much longer. She gingerly approached a cauldron full of a beautiful shimmering turquoise liquid, it was emitting silver sparks and generally giving the impression of being liable to explode at any moment. It belched slightly and white steam rose from it.

Hermione carefully squirted the vampire blood from her syringe into glass test tube. The test tube however was not an ordinary muggle one. Hermione tapped it gently with her wand and muttered quietly to it almost coaxing it gently with her voice.

She gently placed the test tube in a test tube rack and pulled on some dragon hide gloves. She grabbed a pipette and started to add the crimson blood to her potion drop by drop. The potion hissed and spat angrily but she stirred it once anticlockwise in the time between each drop and it settled gradually and became a deep dark navy colour.

Hermione sighed with relief. She left her potion to stew and went upstairs to pack the things she needed to bring with her. She tossed books, robes and other items of clothing into her trunk. No unnecessary items were coming and that included things of sentimental value. A very large wodge of muggle cash was stashed right at the bottom of the anonymous black trunk.

"Riker, come." She ordered a sleek black cat that was curled in the corner. Riker stood up, stretched and ambled towards her fully expecting to be fed. He was not so lucky however when he was bundled into a cat box. He was even less pleased when he was taken through the floo.

The cat was yowling when they arrived in the old kitchen of the burrow. A thin woman with equally thin wispy orange hair and hollow eyes looked at Hermione.

"Hello Hermione dear. Is everything all right?" the once loud and commanding Weasley matriarch asked in a relatively quiet voice.

"I have to go away on business for a while Molly, would you mind looking out for Riker for a while?"

"No problem dear." Molly carefully took the cat carrier from her and placed it on the kitchen table, with Riker yowling his protests. "I'm sure you have lots of packing to do, I'll let you get going." Hermione took the hint and left. She felt a slight twinge of guilt for landing the old woman with a cat she didn't want, but she shook herself, reminding herself that by the time she was through Molly Weasly would never turn into the thin little shadow she had now become.

&&&&&&&

Hermione sat cross legged in a circle of glowing runes etched on the soil around her. Her trunk was shrunken and in her pocket. She was wearing muggle cloths, she had her two wands in holsters on her arms and three knives concealed on her person.

Her potion was in a large flask in front of her. It was a deep midnight blue and silver sparks danced on its surface. It was a potion that had never before been developed and Hermione mused on her chances of survival in a detached manner, as she glared into its starry depths, not unlike the night sky trapped in the bottom of her flask. It would not send her an accurate distance of time or space into the past. It was simply throwing caution to the winds, hurling herself at the fates and hoping for the best. She had added materials that should help tie the potion to her will, but there was no way of knowing where she would end up. It might well send her to an impossible place in the air where she would fall to her death, or it might send her somewhere deep in the earth or at the bottom of the ocean where she would be crushed in seconds, That is if it worked at all and did not simply react unfavourably with her metabolism and just explode her.

She took a deep breath and slugged the potion down her throat. She sparks hit her lips and nose stinging slightly. The potion tasted very strange, there was the unmistakable metallic tang of vampire blood and the heady sent from vela blood but there was an indefinable flavour that Hermione would have said was the flavour of air if it weren't for the fact that air had no flavour.

For half a second nothing happened, and then Hermione threw back her head and screamed. Her body was smashed into a million pieces and her nerves set on fire before being doused in ice which was so cold it burned.

_Just take me to where I can stop it, take me to the time when I can stop this broken world from being formed. Show me how I can stop their deaths. _

Her head was split into two and then four before shattering completely. Two faces hovered, floating through her line of vision, a boy with sad dark eyes lined by thick dark eyelashes, and shoulder length black hair, he looked to be about eight years old. He had a broken nose and a split lip. The other was a man who looked to be around her age. He had deep blue eyes and a handsome face with pronounced cheek bones and a head of thick dark hair. His full lips were contorted into a disdainful sneer.

_An opinion would be appreciated.... _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Welcome Home.

Hermione groggily opened her eyes. Well she was alive at least, and then she noticed she was lying in a bush, and a thorny one at that.

"What are you doing in there?" A small curious voice sounded.

Hermione turned her head and caught her breath. This was the boy that had flitted through her mind after she had downed her dubious concoction of a potion. Dark eyelashes framed equally dark eyes, made to look even larger by his pale thin face. Hermione had changed since the war; she was bitter, pessimistic and untrusting. But children were different; they should never be caught up in wars and thir innocence should be protected at all costs.

"Well I didn't mean to wind up in here." She told the boy with a lopsided smile as she started to attempt to extricate herself from the bush, getting spiked and scratched by a few thorns along the way. She took a moment to notice that she seemed to be in a muggle park of some kind. It was not a very nice one either. The swings over on the other side of the park were either wound around the frame, or broken completely, and there was rubbish scattered across the patchy grass. She appeared to have spent the night in a hawthorn bush that was growing along the perimeter.

"You were sleeping in there." The boy informed her.

"Not on purpose." She said with a grumble. Dark eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Were you drunk?"

"No!" Hermione replied indignantly. She hated the out of control feeling alcohol gave her.

"I was experimenting with a potion and when I drank it I somehow ended up here." She informed him.

"You're a witch!" The boy looked up at her with round astonished eyes. Hermione gave him another charming smile.

"Indeed I am, and you appear to be a charming young wizard." She informed him playfully. She was expecting an equally playful response, or a large smile which would have been typical of a boy his age, but instead the boy ducked his dark head, cheeks flushed and he smiled shyly at her.

"I'm Hermione, what's your name?" Hermione asked him gently. The boy muttered something in response.

"Sorry?" Hermione asked when she didn't catch it.

"I don't like my name, the others say it's too long and horrible sounding."

"Come one it can't be much worse than Hermione." She said with a grin.

"Severus." Hermione's eyes widened and then she realised why he had seemed so familiar. She was talking to the eight year old version of her future potions master.

"Told you it was a horrible name."Severus said taking her shock for distaste at his name.

"Not at all. I think it's a fine name." She told him firmly.

"Really?"

"Really." Severus broke out into a big grin and Hermione grinned right back, while wondering what her ex-professor would have thought if he had known that he had used to have a sweet smile.

"Do you have a job?" Severus asked her curious.

"Not at the moment, but as soon as I get a place of my own I am going to work as a potions supplier and researcher." She told him seriously.

"Really? That sounds really exciting!" Severus was looking up at her again, this time with what seemed to be slightly adoring eyes.

"It won't be exciting until I can find a place to live." Hermione replied amused.

"Oh, I've just remembered, the house next to ours is for sale. I think only wizards can see the sign though, 'cos mum can see it, but father never seemed to notice it. You must come and look."

Hermione gave him a broad smile, while taking note that he didn't call his father dad like he called his mother mum.

"That would be wonderful! Can you take me there?" Severus nodded eagerly. He was worrying Hermione slightly, he seemed entirely too trusting of her. Even now he was looking up at her with adoring eyes. What had she done in the few moments she had known him to gain that expression? She was almost convinced that it was due to her kind words, he seemed to have latched onto them somewhat.

He led her out of the park and into some seedy looking terrace houses that fronted right onto the pavement. She noticed he had a slight limp. There was one house with boarded up windows which had a for sale sign stuck to the wooden cover of one of the downstairs windows. Severus was right it was as Gringotts sign, suggesting that the house was not suitable for muggle habitation for whatever reason. The price was set a trifle high for what it was, but then you couldn't expect a fair price out of a goblin without holding his toes to the fire first.

"You are right Severus, only magical people can see that sign. You see it says Gringotts? Well that is the name of the main wizarding bank."

Hermione immediately found herself bombarded with questions. It turned out that his mother was a witch, but she was either not very learned in the ways of the wizarding world, or had simply neglected to pass on her knowledge to her son. After Hermione had explained how the wizarding bank was run to Severus in great detail she said,

"Well, I must leave now. I will enquire about this house at Gringotts and get someone to give me a tour and if I like it I may well buy it. Thank-you for showing it to me Severus I hope I see you again soon."

"Bye Hermione, I hope you come back soon, you're nice. Are you going to apparate?" He asked excitedly.

"Well yes, but not here. I need to go and find somewhere where I can dissapparate without being seen."

"Oh." He said looking slightly disappointed.

"I'll see you soon, be good." She told him with a smile.

She strolled away with a smile, though she felt bad leaving him standing on the deserted pavement looking rather small. She was careful to make a note of the street name and ducked down a small side street before disappearing almost silently.

She appeared in a corner of the Leaky cauldron and strode out quickly into Diagon alley. People moved out of her way as she made a bee-line towards Gringotts due to her 'I mean business' demeanour.

She stomped through the main doors and headed straight to the goblin behind the man desk.

"Yes." He snapped at her.

"I have recently had a muggle relative pass away. She was rather reclusive and kept her life savings under her bed. They were left to me and I wish to exchange them into gallions and place them in a vault under my name. I am also interested in purchasing a house I saw for sale a number eleven Spinner's End."

"Picknook" The Goblin said in a decisive tone of voice. Hermione was taken aback until another Goblin hurried over.

"Yes Underook." He said in an irritable tone of voice.

"Ms...." Underook looked at her clearly requiring a name.

"Grey." Hermione told him firmly. Underook raised a grizzled eyebrow at the extinct pureblood name but said nothing.

"Ms Grey wishes to exchange muggle money into gallions and view Number eleven Spinner's end."

"I shall take care of it." Picknook replied in an efficient tone of voice.

"Thank-you." Hermione said, before she was lead away by Picknook.

It was a simple matter of signing some papers with some binding contracts that declared that she was within her rights to claim the money as her own. She had a new vault key and a rather disgruntled goblin who had only managed to gain a one point two percent interest rate for the exchange.

Then she found herself back at Spinner's end this time with a Picknook disguised as a muggle sale's man. It was rather disconcerting seeing Picknook drink a potion and ripple into a human shape of an attractive tall blond man, though the same disdainful expression remained.

Picknook unlocked the door and lead her through the rooms. Hermione was relieved to find that it had an extensive basement which she could enlarge and easily turn into a lab. The rest of the house however was a mess. The previous owners had not been residence for some time and when they had been there they had most lightly been chain smokers judging by the yellowed nicotine stains on the ceiling and windowsills.

The next few hours passed in a whirlwind of paperwork and hard negotiations before Hermione handed over a painfully large amount of money for a house in poor repair. She had paid a fair amount for it in the end, though it had taken a great deal of hard work on her part to persuade Picknook to bring the price down from the obscenity it had been previously.

Hermione finally apparated back to Spinner's end, this time appearing in the overgrown back-garden of her new home instead of the grimy alleyway she had apparated out of initially. She walked up to the overgrown house.

"Welcome home Hermione." She said in a cold slightly sarcastic voice to herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – A mixed blessing 

Hermione lay down that night in her new bed. It was a very good job she had achieved an outstanding in her NEWT transfiguration otherwise she would have had nowhere to sleep. Then she heard a crash coming from the other side of the wall, obviously from the house next to hers where Severus was living. A man was shouting.

"There is an Abomination in the house next to us! And you brought her here brat! How dare you. After all these years I've sheltered you, you do this to me!" There was another crash, a yelp, followed by heavy footsteps and a slammed door. Silence reigned once more before a pair of fighting cats screeched at the neighbourhood.

Hermione was sitting up in bed, a horrified expression on her face, it took all her willpower not to rush over there right now and confront the abusive man. But years of tough decisions had cooled Hermione's hot Griffindore head and she would wait until there was enough evidence to stop that man from ever coming near Severus again. All she knew was that she needed to help Severus in any way she possibly could. Maybe that was why she had seen his face when she had thrown herself to the winds of time. Though the other man she had seen there during that terrifying ride though time, was still a mystery.

&&&&&&&

Hermione waved her wand at a particularly stubborn thistle, which just wouldn't bloody well die, and reduced it to a small pile of grey ash. She was working in the shade of a large beech tree that had it's trunk on the other side of the neighbour's fence and a lot of the branches came over her garden. She needed to get her herb garden going as soon as possible so that the plants which needed to be as fresh for her potions were readily available. She had booked her Potions, and Defence against the Dark Arts master's presentations and exams for three weeks time. So she would have to make sure she was up to date on everything, and simply present the research projects she had done for the same exams forty five years in the future.

There was a rustle followed by and yelp and a heavy thud. Hermione spun around, and sitting in the middle of her overgrown lawn was Severus with an incredibly shell shocked expression.

"Severus! What happened?" She asked as she hurried up to him. The small boy looked up at her with large frightened eyes and his bottom lip trembled.

"I...I fell. I didn't mean to, I wasn't spying. I really wasn't honest!" He gabbled. Then Hermione noticed his bruised face, surely those didn't come from falling out of the tree? She remembered that yelling she had overheard the previous night, and would have been prepared to bet her life that man had been hitting the poor boy.

"I don't mind. Does anything hurt?"

"My... My ankle. I landed funny on it.... it really hurts." His lip was trembling even more now as he tried not to cry. Hermione's war hardened heart softened slightly.

"Come on then." She told him, and put her hands under his arms and tried to lift him, but he wriggled away backwards looking confused, frightened and tearful.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I was going to pick you up and carry you into the house so I can heal your ankle. Haven't your parents picked you up before?"

"No." Hermione scowled slightly at his confused response.

"Do you want me to?" Severus paused for a minute before looking down at his left ankle which was obviously hurting and looking slightly swollen already, he bit his lip and then hesitantly nodded.

Hermione approached him carefully and put her hands under his arms and lifted him carefully, bracing herself for his weight, but he was not very heavy and under the baggy, scruffy cloths he was very thin.

"Here, put your legs on either side of me and your arms around my neck." Severus complied and Hermione transferred her grip to wrap her arms around his body supporting most of his weight.

She carried him into the house and into the kitchen which was one of the few rooms that she had managed to clean so far. She carefully deposited Severus in a chair, he was still trembling slightly from the shock of falling out of the tree and his eyes were most definitely teary still.

Hermione took another chair and placed it opposite Severus.

"Put your ankle up on that."

Shakily Severus put his left foot on the seat of the chair. Hermione knelt next to it and carefully untied his shoelace and loosened it as much as possible.

"Okay, I'm going to take your shoe off now, it might hurt." Severus nodded and bit his lip.

Hermione gripped his calf and lifted his foot off the seat of the chair, and with the other hand she slipped his shoe off. It only moved the ankle slightly, but Severus gasped and finally started crying, though he desperately tried to swallow the sobs.

"You are very brave Severus, but even brave people are allowed to cry." She told him gently. The words clearly had the desired effect, because the boy gave a great hiccupping sob.

She removed the sock quickly as well noticing that it had a large hole in it exposing Severus' big toe. That drew another large sob and more tears from the small boy. His ankle was swollen, though it had not yet had time to discolour.

"Nearly finished now Severus." She told him gently, he was looking at her with large dark eyes and was hanging onto the sides of the chair with a white knuckled grip.

Hermione drew one of her twin mahogany wands, this one contained a single phoenix feather. She found that Severus had ripped two ligaments, though nothing was broken. A few healing charms later and the swelling subsided. She re-holstered her wand and said cheerfully;

"As good as new!"

"Thank-you." He replied with a smile through his tears as he gingerly placed his foot back on the floor.

"You are most welcome." Hermione moved away towards the only cupboard that was fit for human use, and which she had brought into use as an initial stock pile for essentials in the cuisine department. She grabbed a packet of biscuits and offered them to Severus who glanced nervously up at her before taking one.

&&&&&&&

Hermione was woken up in the night again by drunken shouting in the street. She recognised Severus' father's grating tones caused by too much drink and cigarettes. The front door of the neighbouring house banged open and slammed shut. There was muffled yelling from the neighbouring house followed by another crash. Then there was a sickening thump and a brief moment of heavy silence before a piercing scream of anguish shook the night. Hermione leapt out of bed not minding that she was only wearing a sleeveless top and shorts. She apparated herself down the stairs till she was just behind her front door before charging into the street both wands in her hand. Both were a deep gleaming mahogany, one with a phoenix feather the other containing dragon heart string. Her old school wand was no more than a painful memory. She blasted open the Snape's front door and took in the sight that crashed into her eyes.

A woman who was once beautiful was lying spread-eagled on the floor blood oozing from her dark hair into the carpet. Severus was kneeling on the floor next to his mother shaking with violent sobs. It had been his scream that Hermione had heard. And standing at the top of the stairs looking from the smashed banister to the form of his wife on the floor was a man who had once been handsome, but drink and cigarettes had rendered his eyes bloodshot, his hands yellow stained and a fair few rolls of fat around his waist line.

The man's alcohol-glazed eyes fell on Hermione, gleaming wands in her hands and her crackling magic creating a small breeze lifting her curling hair and illuminating her brown eyes till they almost seemed to glow an eerie amber colour.

His mad blue eyes contorted with rage and with a primeval roar he crashed down the stairs towards Hermione his beefy fist raised above his head. However he didn't even make it half way in his charge before two jets of gleaming blue and silver streaked out of Hermione's wands rendering him unconscious and binding him in thick grey rope. He fell the rest of the way down the stairs like an ungainly sack of potatoes and came to rest in an undignified, boneless heap at the bottom.

Hermione disdainfully stepped over his body, and knelt down next to Severus who was now staring at her with wide dark eyes which were blotchy and red, and his dark eyelashes were clumped together with tears framing them and emphasising every expression he made.

She ignored him however and waved her phoenix feather wand over the woman, before she sat back on her heels with a sigh.

"She's beyond help I'm afraid Severus. I'm sorry."

Severus hiccupped and wailed for his mother like the small boy he was. Hermione couldn't leave him there with his dead mother and unconscious father so she picked him up and took him with her. This time he didn't object, but he tucked his head under her chin and cried. Hermione noticed absently that he was making her neck wet.

She walked back to her house and deposited Severus at the kitchen table before taking a handful of floo powder out of the tin above the fire place. She started a fire without bothering with a wand, and it came to life with a roar. She tossed the powder into the flames shouted 'emergency services, ' knelt down on the hearth and stuck her head into the green licking flames. She heard Severus gasp behind her, but she ignored him and her head spun before she was looking into a non-descript office in-between green licking tongs of flame. A woman immediately knelt down in front of the fire place she had blonde hair in curls that didn't move when she turned her head, Hermione noticed in a slightly detached manner.

"How man I help you." She said in a reassuring voice that was obviously designed to calm any panicking average member of the wizarding community. Hermione however was not an average member of the wizarding community, and she responded in a collected voice.

"My neighbour has just murdered his wife. He is a muggle, she was a witch and their son is currently in my kitchen."

The woman's eyes widened slightly before she fell into her usual drill.

"Please may I have your floo address?"

"Number eleven Spinner's End."

The blonde woman waved her wand at a pile of paper on her desk and a piece of paper from the top of the folded up into a paper aeroplane and zoomed away out of the open door behind the woman.

"A team of Aurors will be with you shortly. Please remain where you are and do not interfere with the situation. If the husband comes for you..." Hermione cut her off with a disdainful look.

"I am afraid you are mistaken madam. I heard screams and investigated. I have stunned and bound the muggle." The blonde witch seemed taken aback before collecting herself once more with a shake of her unmoving hair

"Right, well stay where you are anyway and..." But Hermione had already withdrawn her head.

&&&&&&&

Five minutes later four Aurors piled into Hermione's small kitchen causing Severus to stare at their purple robes and tall frames in awe.

Hermione left Severus in her kitchen and led the Aurors to the house next door to find that Severus' father had come round and was yelling at the top of his lungs about the 'witch that dared to enter his house.'

The one of the bulkiest of the aurors knelt down beside the loudly protesting drunken man and with a gentle but firm hand pulled all recent memories from his head like writhing, slippery, silver fish just haled out of a river with a hook, and placed them in a temporary pensive.

When they were finished the largest Auror, who was a burly red head and fleetingly reminded her of Ron, turned to her.

"I'm sorry you had to see this. May we leave the boy with you on a temporary basis?"

"Certainly. I am considering filing for custody of Severus, if he agrees of course."

"Thank you madam." The Auror gave her a tired smile.

Hermione left, not wanting to leave Severus alone for too long, or have to witness the removal of Eileen Snape's body.

She walked quickly back into her own house. Though she didn't imagine she would be staying there for a lot longer. Not if she was going to adopt Severus anyway, she would not want him living next door to where he had been abused and his mother had been killed. The idea of adopting Severus had come to her rather suddenly. She had little or no experience with younger children, though she had been the shoulder some first years cried on when she had been head girl at Hogwarts. She hoped that would be enough.

She re-entered her kitchen to find that Severus had fallen asleep with his head on the table. His mouth was slightly open and he was snuffling slightly._ Yes;_ she though _This little boy may be in my life for a while now, and if I'm lucky he may just be the key to changing the future. _

**You Like?**


End file.
